The Unscheduled Mission (21 page)

“Hard to say,” Sartena remarked. The orange woman had been staying with Park and Iris since her arrival on Earth at Marisea’s request. “There are several planets I know of where the people look at least superficially like Park and Iris and the people of Van Winkle do not look exactly like what the Originals were supposed to look like. Your arms are just slightly long in proportion,” she added to Park and Iris.

“Doctor Farns told me we are probably not what you call the Originals,” Park informed her. “Our species actually predates them, so yes, there probably ought to be some morphological differences. Our arms are longer?”

“It could just be an artistic convention,” Sartena told him. “I doubt the difference is more than a few percent; just enough to notice if you look closely. But if you predate the Originals, then they aren’t the Originals at all.”

“No, but the name will probably hold,” Park remarked. “We’re Pirates, remember?”

“Well, I don’t think he found any inconsistencies in the databanks,” Marisea asserted. “If anything, I think he became increasingly troubled, especially after he had Miss Vasson there with him.”

“Deeni Vasson?” Iris asked. “The culturologist’s assistant. I thought she went to Atackack territory with him.”

“She came back here,” Marisea reported. “She’s doing a study of our mixed Human/Mer/Atackack society in Van Winkle.”

“She did say she wanted to,” Park recalled. “I guess Doctor Gravings agreed.”

“They want to compare the Atackack in their tribal lands to the ones who have acculturated here,” Marisea replied. “I think that’s the word she used.”

“Sounds like something an anthropologist might say,” Park laughed. Just then his torc chimed. “Park here,” he spoke out loud. The others could only hear his side of the conversation. “Now? Why? Oh, hell! Put the entire town on alert and get everyone away from the port you can get. And make sure the gun crews on the hill are awake.”

“What’s happening?” Iris asked as they all stood up.

“Grintz has decided it’s time for him to leave,” Park explained. “He’s having the hanger doors opened and demanding the tractor drag his ship out on the tarmac.”

“Isn’t this rather sudden?” Sartena asked.

“As sudden as Jance’s decision to leave,” Park told her. “Excuse me, “I need to get up on the hill. You three ought to stay here. It’s hopefully safer.”

“I’m not concerned with safe, Parker Holman,” Iris told him sternly.

“Okay, so where should I find you afterward?” Park asked. “Where do you plan to be?”

“I ought to be at a gunnery station,” she told him. “No, you’re right. That’s my shipboard assignment. We’ll all be here.”

“Well there is one thing you can do,” Park told her. “
Phoenix Child
is in orbit just now. Make sure the spaceport tells them Grintz is leaving and if possible have our ship track his ascent. If he tries any funny business and we can’t get him from here, I want him deep fried.”

“You got it,” Iris agreed.

Park rushed into his garage. He kept two vehicles there. One was a Humvee and the other a one-seat all-terrain vehicle. He grabbed the ATV and sped out of the house and as close to straight up the hill that covered Van Winkle base as he could. In a few minutes he was near the gun crew that was manning the phaser Ronnie had placed just behind the cover of the hill. It was on a carriage that could be raised and it was already in firing position.

“Situation?” Park asked.

“So far everything is normal down there, sir,” one of the men reported. “Grintz’s ship has taxied to the head of the runway.”

Park touched a switch on his torc and spoke, “Spaceport control, this is Holman. Have you given Grintz clearance to lift yet.”

“We were waiting for you or Colonel Theoday, sir,” came the reply.

“Very well,” Park replied. He glanced at the gun crews and told Control. “Grant them clearance. We’re as ready as we’re likely to get.”

A few minutes later the engines on Grintz’s ship grew louder and higher pitched and then the ship was moving down the runway. It was nearly at the end when it finally lifted up and began climbing slowly. As Park watched, it continued straight for three or four miles before banking to the right until it was nearly, but not quite, headed back toward Van Winkle Town.

“Hold your fire,” Park told the crews, but inside he was as nervous as any of them. However as ominous as the sudden departure had been, the ship continued climbing out and was soon well out of sight. “Control, are we still tracking him?”

“Yes sir,” Control told him. “He’s approaching the Atlantic mountains and at an altitude of thirty miles and still climbing.”

“Keep tracking,” Park instructed. “I’m coming there.”

Park spent the next few hours in the Spaceport, with Arn, Taodore, Rebbert and Dannet. They called the other ports and tracking stations around Pangaea and between their own observations and that of others, they watched Grintz’s ship dock with the carrier
Quaestor
and then watched
Quaestor
leave orbit and start heading outward.

“I notice, however,” Park observed, “that the other five ships are headed for Luna. Arn, Grintz really didn’t give anyone warning he intended to leave?”

“Not so much as a word until his pilot called for a tractor,” Arn replied. “I thought he was supposed to announce his findings.”

“Not necessarily to you,” Rebbert commented. “His commission requires a report to the Diet, or maybe just a single committee on the Diet.” Suddenly Rebbert slapped one hand to his forehead. As he pulled it away a darker shade of green appeared where he had hit himself. “I never thought to ask and it could be important.”

“In what way?” Arn asked.

“If he reports to the entire Diet I have a right to the entire transcript of his report. If he reports to the Internal Affairs Committee, not only do I get to see it, but I am one of five members who can veto. Of course, if Internal Affairs had sent him he would have been required to tell me. Well, he would have had to tell me who sent him anyway had I thought to ask. It could be Foreign Affairs in which case I can call in favors if the report is unfavorable and I want the details, but if it’s the War Committee, there’s no one I can coerce if they choose to only release excerpts or a summary.

“As soon as we’re sure he’s left the system, I’m going to have to follow him,” Rebbert went on. “I only stayed as long as I could to assure his investigation was kept honest. I need to get back and see that ransom has been paid for everyone.”

“You can take your people now if you want,” Park told him. “As I understand the ransom custom, they are simply prohibited from acting against us so long as they are still on their parole.”

“True,” Rebbert agreed, “but I think you are all better off the longer you have your hostages. That won’t be much longer. Now that I’ve been here I am honor-bound to pay off Dannet’s ransom as soon as I can on my return and when I announce you have agreed to the standard fees, the others will be paid by the Navy and a ship will arrive to pick them up. Dannet would be staying in any case, however.”

“Why?” Arn asked.

“I’m resigning my commission,” Dannet replied, “and will stay on Earth as ambassador from Dennsee, assuming you and Prime Terius are of a mind to accept my credentials.”

“I have no problem with that,” Arn told him, “and while I can’t speak for Terius, I doubt he’ll take issue as well.”

“Just the opposite,” Taodore remarked. “You’ll be the first ambassador from any Alliance world in the known history of the Mer. It’s the sort of vindication we have all desired.”

“Good,” Dannet nodded. “I had hoped that might be the case, but… I have asked Sartena to stay on as my aide. She’s willing so long as Father can arrange for her to be transferred.”

“That should not be a problem,” Rebbert told them. “Tzantsa might even grant her ambassadorial status as well. I cannot say for sure, though. Her planet is a long way from Dennsee and I don’t know their representative on the Diet well enough to presume.”

“Sartena is a good officer, but her family is not involved with the local planetary politics,” Dannet added.

“I’ll recommend her to the post,” Rebbert told them, “but Tzantsa will do what it pleases.”

“At the moment I’m more concerned with the additional ships that seem to be stationed at or near Luna,” Park pointed out. “I believe this makes eight if we’ve been keeping count carefully.”

“That’s twice what they had two years ago,” Taodore noted.

“It sounds to me as though they intend to withdraw their surrender,” Arn commented. “I know we should have moved in directly after our victory last year.”

“That concerns me as well,” Rebbert told them. “They may only be preparing to evacuate and need the additional ships to carry all personnel away, but I doubt it. It is a clear violation of the surrender and one I intend to bring up in the Diet. Now, Arn, before I leave I’ll need your signature on a number of papers.”

“Huh?” Arn asked. “Why?”

“I need to open an account for Earth, in the Galactic Bank” Rebbert replied, “but I’ll need your permission to do so.”

“Power of Attorney?” Arn asked.

“Yes,” Rebbert nodded. “Otherwise, we would have to get the Diet to allow a variance against Earth-born people from leaving Sol System and that would mean further delay, if it were even allowed. I don’t believe we have that luxury.”

“A specific power to create a bank account for money we aren’t asking for is not much of a risk,” Arn shrugged and strolled off with Rebbert.

The
Pride of Dennsee
left Van Winkle Town another two hours later when it became apparent
Quaestor
was definitely leaving the system and life slowly began to slide back toward normalcy over the next month, although no one forgot there was now a full Battle Group of ships stationed around the Moon and there was always a slight edge of nervousness when anyone looked up at Earth’s natural satellite.

So when Veronica Sheetz turned up in Park’s office one morning, covered in grease and various other stains, but with a big smile on her face, Park had to admit he wanted to know what made the mechanical engineer so happy.

“I’ve been working on the gravity cannon,” she reported, jumping down into the chair in front of Park’s desk. “We know from our in-flight tests it is slow to charge and infernally hard to aim.”

“Right,” Park nodded. “But according to Dannet, it is no worse than the comparable Alliance weapons.”

“I’ve been working on aim and focus,” Ronnie announced. “It was really because I was getting frustrated with the stasis plating problem and was hoping that maybe directed graviton emissions might be the key. They weren’t, but I did improve the cannons and I’m having some slight success at a projected stasis field, but the range is only ten feet. But here’s the good part – not only is the cannon easier to aim now, but I think I can focus and concentrate the results until we can produce a micro-mass black hole.”

“You aren’t planning to try that on Earth are you?” Park asked nervously.

“I’m not crazy,” Ronnie laughed. “Well maybe by some standards I am, but I’m certainly not stupid. I could do that sort of thing in a large collider of some sort and this is just a way of doing it without the collider and without magnetic fields to keep it contained for its brief lifespan. But to tell the truth, just because I could use a gravity cannon to create one, I have some major doubts that it would remain a black hole long enough to be an effective weapon. It’s worth a try since even our nuclear boys can’t say for certain what would happen to a micro-black hole in the effect cone of a gravity cannon, but we can try it out next mission.”

“You’re not doing anything that would ground
Phoenix Child
, would you?” Park asked.

“Good heavens, no!” Ronnie exclaimed. “I’m not suicidal either. This is all just tinkering with the current equipment and nothing I couldn’t get in working order again while in flight. But when is our next scheduled mission?”

“In a sense we’re on it right now,” Park admitted. “I don’t want to take the ship up and then have the Alliance try something during mission turn-around time.”

“I have that time down to two days, you know,” Ronnie pointed out.

“Get it down to half a day and maybe we can be a little more daring,” Park told her. “We have one ship and the Mer have six. They’re all armed now thanks to you and Velvet, but Luna has eight ships and two of them are those large battle ships like the one Jance landed in.”

“Just bigger targets if you ask me,” Ronnie replied, “and we have three more on the assembly line.”

“And not due for another eight months at least,” Park shot back. “Those big ships have more weapons, so while they may be easier to hit, and we don’t know that, they can shoot down more of us on the first volley. A double kill is too expensive even if we have a hundred ships.”

“I know that,” Ronnie agreed, “but we have to play the hand we’re dealt. Those big ships have more than just plasma casters, you know. They have x-ray phasers that are more powerful than ours so far and they also have gravity cannons of their own. From what Dannet and his people tell me, there’s no defense against a gravity cannon save not to be there when they shoot. I take that as a challenge you know.”

“I thought the stasis plating would help against that,” Park commented.

“Well, I hope so,” Ronnie admitted, “but we don’t know for certain. Gravitons have no effect on a stasis field and vice versa. Come to think about it, if I perfect the stasis plating against a phaser, a gravity cannon would reach right through it and crush us. Full stasis the way it works now might protect us, but if that’s the case we’ll need both sorts of defenses. More complications.”

“Did you come to the future for a simple life?” Park asked

“Ha!” Ronnie laughed. “If that were the case I might have walked out with that bunch that disappeared just after we all woke up. Have we ever heard from any of them?”

“No sign of them at all,” Park admitted. “We might have been able to find them had we noticed they were gone right away, but by the time we noticed they must have been further than Arn would allow the search parties to go. For all we know they got eaten by neo-crocs the first night.”